Derek Brunson decides not to move forward with appeal of Anderson Silva loss at UFC 208

Derek Brunson felt like he was robbed of a victory on Saturday night in Brooklyn at UFC 208 and had planned on filing an appeal with the New York State Athletic Commission but ultimately opted against that decision on Wednesday.

Brunson’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz told FOX Sports earlier in the day that the middleweight was planning on filing an appeal this week through his attorney Craig Zimmerman.

According to Abdel-Aziz, Brunson’s appeal took umbrage with the judges who scored the fight in favor of Silva after three rounds at UFC 208. When the fight ended, Brunson had outstruck Silva by a total of 54-43 in significant strikes and 118-54 in total strikes, according to Fight Metric.

There were no knockdowns landed by either fighter but Brunson did score with two takedowns during the 15-minute bout as well.

Brunson was clearly angered by the decision rendered that night in Brooklyn, including one judge — Eric Colon — who scored all three rounds for Silva.

“It definitely was a robbery. Here’s what I’ll say to the judges — you guys love Anderson Silva, you guys are in awe of Anderson Silva. You didn’t show up tonight and do your job,” Brunson told FOX Sports earlier this week. “What you did was show up to watch the fight. You didn’t score the fight. I watched with Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier commentating on the fight and they made a valid point that every time Anderson moved, the crowd went crazy. It’s Anderson Silva. I got caught up in that. The judges got caught up in that.

“They didn’t score the fight. They just looked at the fight and every time Anderson moved they were just like ‘we’ve got to give it to him, he looks like he’s doing a lot’. Those guys didn’t show up for work that night. They really didn’t. Those judges they stunk it up.”

According to the media scores posted by MMADecisions, 20 of the 24 reporters and outlets polled gave the fight to Brunson after three rounds.

Unfortunately, the three judges sitting cageside disagreed and Brunson was handed his second loss in a row.

While Brunson originally informed his manager of plans to appeal the decision, he ultimately opted against filing and instead will now focus on booking his next fight in the UFC.